Why don’t we do this kind of thing anymore? You saw it a lot in the 1960s and 70s—speakers embedded in display shelves or on a wall, as part of the decor.
Stereo systems and speakers, 1960s & 70s style
October 24, 2012
Uncategorised
“Contempo” – my term for the insincere faux-modern design style infecting our lives
October 20, 2012
There is a particular type of contemporary design that I deeply despise but for which there is no terminology. About six years ago, out of frustration, I started calling it “contempo.” It is a deliberately cheesy term for a cheesy aesthetic, an aesthetic of dumbed-down, cutesy faux-modernism.
Chalet kitchen door
October 9, 2012
Antique kitchen door in German chalet, part of the set of UK film “Chalet Girl” starring Felicity Jones and Bill Nighy. Fluff film, but great set. Is this a common door design in the alps?
Tame Impala / Lonerism
October 6, 2012
The single “Elephant” from new Tame Impala album “Lonerism”
Album cover for Lonerism by Tame Impala – fenced garden, Paris
The new Tame Impala album Lonerism is out.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor are back
Finally, a new album after ten years. Seems it’s only available on their tour merch tables right now. Beautiful album design, including the following:
More Godspeed You!
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ALLELUJAH! DON'T BEND! ASCEND!
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video
CBC’s Wab Kinew on First Nations Stereotypes
September 27, 2012
Great video from CBC’s George Stromboulopoulos show and its Soap Box series. It’s “5 First Nations Stereotypes” by the entertaining Wab Kinew.
Wab, host of the Doc Zone series 8th Fire, is also a CBC News Winnipeg reporter on CBC Television, and a hip-hop artist, named by the Winnipeg Free Press as one of the top artists to watch from Manitoba.
Designer Tobias Wong at the Museum of Vancouver
September 19, 2012
A retrospective of the work of Vancouver designer Tobias Wong (1974-2010) opens tonight at the Museum of Vancouver. It’s curated by Todd Falkowsky who, along with his colleagues at the Canadian Design Resource, has perhaps done more to promote Canadian design and designers than anyone else, at least in the last decade.
Berlin’s skyrocketing housing costs and hipster proliferation
September 18, 2012
The above video by a Berliner complains about Berlin’s influx of hipsters, addressing them directly in its conclusion:
“Please stop to face your neighbourhood… it matters if you try to live in Neukölln or whether you just live your imported party here.
A house with a grass roof
Above: Farm house in Keldur, Iceland. These are “earth sheltered” houses, an ancient form of passive solar, sustainable architecture. It’s the practice of “packing earth against building walls for external thermal mass, to reduce heat loss and maintain steady indoor temperature.”
From Wikipedia: “A sod roof or turf roof is a traditional Scandinavian type of green roof covered with sod on top of several layers of birch bark on gently sloping wooden roof boards.
Slow
September 16, 2012
Thomas Anselmi of Slow singing Have Not Been The Same, circa 1985
Slow at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium, dressed in bloody nurse’s outfits, circa 1986
Slow was a legendary 80s Vancouver band sometimes credited with spawning grunge.
